Two too much: Blasts by Aguilar sink Cards
First ends no-hit bid; second ends game
MILWAUKEE — Neither Jesus Aguilar nor Bud Norris wanted to let his team down.
Aguilar succeeded. Twice.
Aguilar homered to break up rookie Jack Flaherty’s no-hit bid in the seventh inning and then homered again in the ninth off Norris to lift the Milwaukee Brewers over the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 on Friday.
Each teams had three hits. The benches and bullpens briefly cleared in the eighth after Eric Sogard slid into St. Louis shortstop Yairo Munoz, who caught a wide throw on a bunt play in the eighth.
Norris (3-2) started the ninth for the Cardinals by striking out Travis Shaw. But Aguilar followed with an opposite-field drive to right for his 16th home run.
Norris owned up to the mistake. “I yanked one pitch, and he hit it,” he said. “That’s the game.”
It was another tough loss for the Cardinals, who have lost nine of their past 12.
“Watching them walk us off, that’s hard,” St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. “Jack did everything he could possibly do.”
Corey Knebel (1-0) pitched the ninth for the National League Central leaders.
With one out in the seventh, Aguilar drove an 83 mph slider from Flaherty — the rookie’s 100th pitch — into the Brewers’ bullpen in left, where reliever Jeremy Jeffress caught the ball on the fly.
“He got that ball almost off the ground,” catcher Yadier Molina said. “We’ve got to give him some credit.”
Aguilar tipped his cap to Flaherty. “He was dominating the strike zone tonight, and I think we got lucky,” he said.
Flaherty matched a career high by striking out 13 in seven innings, allowing one hit.
The Cardinals played stellar defense behind him after giving up six unearned runs with a season-high four errors in Thursday’s 11-3 loss to Milwaukee.